person · P0133
Rabbi Nechunya ben HaKanah רבי נחוניא בן הקנה
Tanna of the generation spanning the destruction and Yavneh, teacher of Rabbi Yishmael, from whom the latter received the exegetical method of expounding the Torah by generalization and specification (klal ufrat). In Avot he teaches that whoever accepts the yoke of Torah is relieved of the yoke of government and worldly cares, and the Mishnah preserves his short prayers upon entering and leaving the beit midrash. Later kabbalistic tradition attached mystical works to his name.
I. Who
- Hebrew
- רבי נחוניא בן הקנה
- Also known as
- Nechunya ben HaKanah, Nehunya ben HaKanah
- Era
- tannaim
- Generation
- T1
- Transmitted the mesorah to
- Rabbi Yishmael
- Students
- Rabbi Yishmael
II. When
- Traditional
- c. 3790–3870 AM
- Academic
- c. 30–110 CE
- Lifespan (traditional)
- ≈80 years
- Precision
- approximate
V. How do we know
| Claim | Evidence | Confidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taught: "Whoever accepts upon himself the yoke of Torah, they remove from him the yoke of government and the yoke of worldly cares; and whoever casts off the yoke of Torah, they place upon him the yoke of government and the yoke of worldly cares." | rabbinic | ★★★★★ | |
| Prayed a short prayer on entering the beit midrash and on leaving it, explaining that on entry he prays that no mishap occur through him, and on exit he gives thanks for his portion.
The gemara (Berakhot 28b) supplies the full text of both prayers.
|
rabbinic | ★★★★★ | |
| Was the teacher whom Rabbi Yishmael served, and from whom Rabbi Yishmael received the method of expounding the entire Torah by generalization and specification (klal ufrat). | rabbinic tradition | ★★★☆☆ | |
| When his students asked how he had merited long life, he answered that he never gained honor through a colleague's degradation, never went to sleep with a curse against his fellow, and was generous with his money.
Aggadic self-report in the Bavli's longevity dialogues. |
rabbinic | ★★★☆☆ | |
| Later kabbalistic tradition attributes to him the mystical Sefer HaBahir and the piyyut Ana BeKoach; academic scholarship dates these texts to the medieval period.
Pseudepigraphic attribution; the research input's encyclopedia.com URL was dead and was replaced with Wikipedia at ingest.
|
tradition | ★★☆☆☆ | |
| Traditional placement c. 3790–3870 AM (c. 30–110 CE), inferred from his role as the teacher of Rabbi Yishmael, who flourished in the Yavneh generation.
Schematic traditional dating. |
tradition reconstruction | ★☆☆☆☆ |